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Shen
General Guide by Dragon4708

This build has been archived and is for historical display only.

PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.

Welcome!

_____Hello! Welcome to my jungle Shen guide. This is my first guide and I would appreciate if you kept that in mind, with that said feel free to give feedback/suggestions. I started playing LoL casually in late season 1 but didn't become ranked until late season 2. Ever since I hit LvL 20 and got some tier 3 runes I started playing jungle and became rather good at it too. Before we go any further I am expecting you, the reader, to know very basic jungling concepts and League of Legends terms, if this becomes a problem I can always include something similar to a glossary for the short forms.

Why Shen? Interesting question, I originally got him so I could swap with other people in champ select but soon found out that he had many huge values that make him a great jungle. These values will be talked about and explained throughout this guide. So sit back, and enjoy learning about a hidden jewel in League of Legends, jungle Shen.

Pros/Cons of the Bushwhacker

As much as Riot loves to make champions OP, not everyone can be Thresh :c. Let's go over some things that make Shen good, and some things you have to look out for and be mindful of when playing him.

*Pros
High Mobility
Great Sustain
Good Invade
Global Ult ( Stand United)
Not Reliant on Flash
No Mana
Can split push easily

3/3 Tenacious - This is a really good choice for Shen as one of your main jobs in a fight is to taunt the carry and get him/her out of the fight ASAP, how can you do this CC'd?

1/1 Honor Guard - the final 21st point, reducing 3% of damage might not seem like much but keep in mind it's 3% for ALL damage ( baron, ancient golem,champions,minions, ect...)

Runes....

welcome to the runes section, here we'll be talking about in my opinion, the most boring thing in all of League, Runes. There are many different runes you can take and I'll go over a few different combinations that you can use. The combination of runes that I use in ranked however are the ones highlighted at the top of the guide.

Marks

9x
I personally use this because it increases Shen's jungle speed and allows him to be aggressive in the early game.

9x
This can be a viable pick if your looking to play more defensive. This slightly increases the damage output on your passive ( Ki Strike). Although these effects are good these marks give such a tiny buffer of health (31.23 health) and I would only recommend these against an aggressive jungle ( Kha'Zix, Shaco).

9x
This rune, like the quint, is pretty much an alternative to the ad marks. The Attack speed marks give better jungle clear early on in the game. I don't really have a difference in opinion between them and find both these and ad marks to be equally good. If your going to get this though I recommend getting as quints as well.

Seals

9x
I don't think that there is anything else that is better than this. Since Hunter's Machete was implemented it has replaced Cloth Armor as the slandered jungle start. Since this deprivation of armor you can loose tons of health doing early game ganks or even just farming the jungle itself. In season three this is a standard practice for most jungles.

Glyphs

9x
These runes are really effective against APC's and some top lane's ( Karthus, Lux, Teemo,ect...). The scaling part of the runes is also very important. When APC's start off in the game they are relatively weak; this is because they have no ap items yet! Basically you scale your ap resist as they scale their AP.

Quintessences

3x
These quint's can really be useful if you play your cards right. These quints stacked on top of our marks give us a combined ad of +15 (More than a Doran's Blade blade). This does several things.
1. Faster Jungle time
2. Fiercer ganks
3. Opens up the possibility of counter jungling

3x
This quint can be used to gain better mobility over the map. This extra mobility can be really useful if your using a spell like Teleport or Exhaust and getting to, or from your enemy.

3x
The attack speed can be more of an alternative to the attack quints because they pretty much do they same thing but in different ways.
1. Increases jungle clear - By being able to attack faster Shen can use his passive more often Ki Strike
2. Faster energy regen - every time Shen uses his Ki Strike he get energy back, this can be useful if chasing and need that tiny but more energy to Shadow Dash

Summoner Spells

Let's talk about summoner spells, arguably one of the most important OOG (out of game) decisions you can make. Let's go over all the VIABLE summoner spells here *Cough*not clarity*cough*.

Smite is an Absolute 100%, sure, done thing. Why you ask? Smite is a useful tool for getting your buffs and doing true damage onto monsters/minions. Even if a jungle could do without it, it is still a must for controlling objectives like baron and dragon for your team.
Here's what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-UDA4ANBbU Note: It is not me in that video, i do not own that video and don't claim too and it is purely an example of what smite can do for your team
Ghost is my favorite summoner spell to use along side smite. There are several reasons for this.

1. Ganks - While using ghost you can pass through units and gets you moving very fast. This assists you in ganks a ton. By activating ghost before or during a gank you can go through the entire wavy for an easy catch using Shadow Dash.

2. CD - It has 90 second difference in Cd between it and flash allowing you to play more aggressive and know you can use ghost without having a huge consequence.
for some reason when people see Shen the first thing they think is teleport. I'm not at all saying teleport is a bad choice on regular Shen, but if your jungling there are a flew flaws.

1. 5min cooldown

2. The reasoning that you already have a built in teleport that has a shorter cooldown than

teleport itself
I'm not saying teleport is all bad though, it can save towers, you can do surprise ganks, and it allows for amazing split push. With all that in mind though I think there are other summoners out there that can be utilized better.
I actually like exhaust and think it is a great spell in certain scenarios. This allows you to exhaust ADC's in team fights making them less of a threat. It also helps with ganks allowing you and your allies chain CC better and/or use abilities. With those things said I would only take this if it was lacking on a team. For example if your support takes ignite because no one on your team has it, grab exhaust.
Flash is a useful spell for all champions in the league but there are certain jungles that I think don't need flash all the time. Those champs are ones that already have build in flashes or easy escape.(aka. Zac, Zed, Shen, Aatrox, Rammus, Vi)I would recommend
flash for any beginner out there who is fairly new to Shen though.

Edit: Upon further Investigation I have found Flash equaly viable to Shen as Ghost and in some cases better. The main reason for this change is 2 reasons.

1. Flash and Shadow Dash combined can be amazing ganking or be used to have amazing escapes.

2. You can burn as much energy as you want invading,ganking, or just farming and have comfort that you have a decent escape option up.
Those are all the Summoner Spells I think have some sort of viability on Shen. Any that I didn't list here I think don't belong here.

Skills and Skill order

I'll just briefly explain the different skills Shen has, how to combo them, and some nifty things you might not know.Abilities

This is Shen's passive. This gives out tons of damage to champs,minions and monsters alike. Every time you auto attack the CD on this decreases by 1 second, kind of like Amumu's Tantrum but the opposite. Be careful as if the team finds you with it down they know it's the best time for you to die

This is by far the most confusing ability Shen has. In a team fight always throw the Vorpal Blade on the target you and your team agreed to be focusing. This is because as everyone attacks that target they get healed, this has many times saved people's life. Don't forget to use it to heal yourself too while jungling!

This is the backbone of Shen jungle. Feint gives you a shield that allows you to block damage from anyone, ap or ad. This is one of the reasons Shen has so much sustain in the jungle

The taunt. The amazing thing that gets Shen so many kills. it's pretty much self explanatory except for a few things. The more people you taunt the more energy you get refunded. There are still some people who don't know this but Shadow Dash allows Shen to go over about 50% of all walls in the game.

This ability right here is what makes Shen, Shen! Using Shen's ult is an entire different mechanic completely, that's why I made an entire section just dedicated to Shen's ult.

Ability Leveling
The only one thing I could talk about here besides the stuff you already know is the skill leveling from lvls 1-3. I say this because if you know that, let's say your mid Lux will get stomped on by mid Kassadin you may want to try a lvl2 gank. This is very risky and I don't recommend this for new Shen players but it can be done. If you wish to attempt this get your starting buff and get your taunt for lvl2. You can then proceed to gank mid lane for an unexpected surprise (will talk in depth later about the proper way to do a lvl2 gank).

Combos

Here we'll go over a few different scenarios and how to act during them.

*Follow the pictures from left to right to follow the combo order*
This is the most conman way to use your skills

then just use your abilities as they come up.

Ulting into a fight

Then use your abilities as they come up.

The only time when your combo may be different is when your peeling for a carry.

Then yet again use your abilities as they come off CD.

What is the reasoning when you're peeling? What makes it different from other fights?
There are a few key differences from when you're playing defense and playing offense, the main one is your priorities. In a fight where you are the defender your top priority is to keep your carries alive.When you're on the offense your job is to keep THEIR carries caught up. We'll go into depth about this when we talk about team fights/positioning.

Item explanation

Here I'm going to do the same setup as I did with masteries; I'll name the item, then I'll name why it's here, pausing at some points to go into depth with some items or purchase order.Spawning into the rift

When spawning in we are fairly limited as to what we can get. Back in season 2 there would be multiple ways to start and we can still use some of those ways in season 3. The most efficient way to start in my opinion is the standard S3 build; this is 1x Hunter's Machete and 5x Health Potion. The other way you can start is by starting with 1x Cloth Armor and 5x Health Potion, the second way slows down your jungle clear slightly but allows you more freedom in the early game. I would not recommend this start however unless against a team that's mostly weak early game.Progressing into early game
The early game is what sets the tone for the rest of the game, any ganks, whether they be good or bad gives your team an image as to who you are as a jungler. The same can be said about our item selection as it decides what items we should build into as we get into the middle-latter end of the game.

At this stage in the game I don't usually deviate from my build as it is pretty linear as to who will build what. Our runes and masteries will give us enough damage to make it through this stage without having to worry about our damage output. I always think that it is a good idea to get some health then armor, in that order. Knowing this we can build our Hunter's Machete into a Spirit of the Ancient Golem. This item gives us several things including, health regen, the *Tenacity* passive, and increases our base health and jungle clear time. From this stage we can start focusing on our Boots of Speed/ Sunfire Cape. One of my favorite things about this build is the fact we aren't pressured into any one boot upgrade, because we already have the tenacity passive from Spirit of the Ancient Golem, this allows us to really focus on what we need and as lvl2 boots are always nice we wouldn't NEED them until a later stage in the game.Mid game and onward
From the mid game and outwards you could follow the outline I have provided or you could play it based on the situation. Due to this I will just name some mid-late game items and how they are useful on Shen.

Trinity Force is a huge investment, but well worth it. It gives you attack speed to help your Ki Strike, gives extra health increasing Ki Strike's damage, it also increases you AP giving a stronger shield ( Feint and Stand United) and comes with a whole lot of passives.

Warmog's Armor adds an extra 100 damage to your Ki Strike and makes you kinda tanky, I consider this item a must for the late game.

Guardian Angel is a strong late game item as it offers both MR,armor and it's passive at full build can you bring back from the dead with a fairly decent amount of health.

This is a strong item against a mostly AD team. This makes Shen tankier while at the same time making their ADC's less effective, not to mention the +50 damage on Ki Strike.

This item can be picked up by a support too so before purchasing make sure to check if anyone on your team has it. If another person on your team has it would be better to get another item. Locket of the Iron Solari is a good item for Shen because it offers him multiple resistances for him and his team mates and comes with a free shield!

Wit's End is a good way of gaining both damage and MR. It's passive allows for you Ki Strike to get stronger and stronger as you fight due to their dwindling MR. I think this is a great opportunity and a must get if given the time.

Banshee's Veil is a strong way of getting through their front line and onto their carries. It's passive blocks 1 spell and during a team fight that can mean the difference between getting to that fed Ashe alive or dead. I recommend this if you find yourself getting locked up or getting bursted down by APC's.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a good item to get if you feel like riot put some bots on your team that need carrying. Seriously though, if you find that your teammates aren't the best and you could use the extra damage for Ki Strike or Vorpal Blade than go for it.

Frozen Heart can be very useful against a strong ad team for 2 reasons. The first is because of it's passive, reduces the attack speed of all surrounding enemies by 20%, because you will be in the center of the fight, this will effect all enemies. The second is the 95 armor it gives you, self explanatory why this is useful.

shurelya's reverie

Is basically my alternative for ghost. This can give you and your team mates great temporary speed allowing for gap closing. This combos really well with Shadow Dash.

I spent a while searching for an alternative to Trinity Force, something more focused towards Shen and little cheaper, Zephyr was what I came up with. Although not that much cheaper it focuses more on Shen's abilities and not what Shen doesn't need.

Abyssal Mask Offers great protection against fed APC's while still giving you good scaling on all your other abilites.

Jungling and Jungle Route

Jungling with Shen is probably the most enjoyable thing I have ever done in LoL. Shen in the jungle can be a nasty surprise for the opposite team, with many benefits for your team. In this section we will go over the concepts and strategies in the jungle and a basic Red buff and a basic blue buff start.

Where to start

This is a pretty standard question as a jungle and the response I hear most often is this:If you use mana start blue
If you don't use mana start red
This thought is mostly wrong. As a jungler you will get help from your team mates killing your first buff. Now let's look at Shen, he doesn't use mana so this does enable him to start at red OR blue. Now that we have this option available it is easiest as a jungler to start at a buff where we can get the most help, this means that we go to the buff at bottom; this changes per team (blue side=red buff, purle side=blue buff). So that is the logic as to where to start.

The Route
This is easiest showed using pictures

Note: You do not have to fully complete the jungle route, you can gank at any stage following any of the numbers, recommended lanes to gank at that time are the numbers in blue.

Alright, that's that, now let's get into why you would jungle that way.

The first thing you probably noticed when you looked at my route is that we skip wraiths/ wolves and go straight to the opposite buff. I like to do this because of one of my biggest pet peeves EVER, buff stealing. Before I played Shen I played Vi, and when I played Vi, I could literally walk into the enemies jungle lvl2, steal their buff and leave without seeing them once. Why is this? because they stopped for wolves, at first I wasn't sure but LOLREPLAY told me they stopped at wolves or wraiths, this frustrates me so much you don't even know. Anyways the rest of the route is fairly normal.*Unless there is a chance of them invading always take your first buff smiteless

Tracking
It is YOUR responsibility as a jungler to keep track or get an idea as to where their jungle is. This is called tracking the enemy jungler, hence the title. There are three ways of doing this, each comes with it's own risk.

1. This can be dangerous, costs the most but by far gives you the most up-to-date info, . Here is a map that shows the location of three locations that can reveal their entire Jungle.

This is often seen in the LCS at the beginning of the game when teams ward trade, this prevents so many ganks and allows for easy invading, this can get expensive so there are other methods of doing this.

2. This is by far the most dangerous method of tracking, I call it peeking. Basically this method involves you walking into their jungle to check if various camps are clear, if clear, you know the jungler has recently passed through, I don't recommend going past wraiths/blue.

3. This is the safest, but the least accurate and it only works at the beginning of the game. This method is basically a theory that both junglers will be equally farmed,leveled and located on the map. This is of course before assists and kills come into play. For example I know that when I hit LvL 6 in a game their jungle either is already 6 or is about to be, announcements like these to a team can save lives.

Timers
This is really common in higher brackets of elo and it's really simple to do. Basically every single monster in the game re spawns after a given time when the entire camp is killed. So it is a good idea to call this out in chat to make your team aware on objectives or even keeping your mid up to date as to when they get their next blue. You can turn on time stamps in your LoL options and extend chat by pressing "z" in game. The spawn times are listed below.

Wraiths :50 seconds

Wolves :50 seconds

Golems :50 seconds

Ancient Golem :(Blue Buff)5 minutes

Lizard Elder :(red buff)5 minutes

Dragon :6 minutes

Baron Nashor :7 minutes

Invading
Invading can be done with Shen very carefully, but very effectively. Before you invade it is vital to know if they have their jungle warded, you can test this by going partially into their jungle when all lanes are on the map and see if anyone reacts, if not you go for green.

When to invade

getting the answer to this question could either kill you and get you an extra blue buff. The way I look at it is, If at anytime you see their jungle in lane or ganking, he isn't in his jungle. Another common time to invade is right as a buff spawns, sometimes junglers are occupied to be at their buff the moment it spawns, if you keep their buff times however you could do just that.

Advice and Tips for Shen's Ult

Shen's ult ( Stand United) is a very important skill, like all ults it involves skill and timing. What Shen's ult needs though that some don't is map awareness, there are several ways to keep updated as to what's going on in summoners rift and there are a few cool tricks that some people don't know about.

Map awarness

There are 2 main ways to tell who in your team is in trouble or not and we will look at both of them.Now look at the picture below and pay attention to the two spots on the screen that are circled

Note that on some laptops the F1-F10 have to be activated or else are used as computer utility tools (brightness adjust,screen flip, ect...)
Just in case you don't already know the two spots that are circled are the mini map, and your team panel. We can use both sources to quickly find out if a team memebr needs help. Always glance at the mini map while farming jungle, you don't have to do it for ever, but glancing at it once every 5-10 seconds or so should do it. The first signs that your team is in trouble on the mini map will be and abundance of red summoner pictures. Now is where the team panel comes into play (The Pictures of team mates on the left hand side of the pic). Now as you can see I have labelled all champions on our team including me with either F1,F2,F3,F4 or F5.
You are always F1, if you press that the camera will pan to you instantly (this can also be done by using the space bar). From there the top team mate is F2 ( Malphite) then down one is F3 ( Malzahar) ect.., by pressing these buttons the camera will instantly pan over to them allowing you to quickly examine the situation and ult in if necessary. In this next photo we see a prime opportunity to ult.

Before you ult as Shen you should ask your self one really fast question.Can this person make use of my ult or is it a waste?

To put this question simply ask yourself, will my ult even do anything? Shen's ult can be fun to use, yes, but if your team member got caught at their inhibitor and is being chased by 5 enemy players he is going to die no matter what you do

If Shen uses his ult correctly he can completely change the outcome of a team fight or even, the game. The best way to improve your ult timing/skill is just by practice and experience.

Team Fighting

Team fights are what 75% of late are all about. If your team can master this, you win, simple. Every champion in LoL is classified into different roles; than main ones are as follows, ADC, APC, Tank (defensive/offtank), support. A good team composition should have at least one of each role. As Shen were building him towards an offtank tank depending on the situation. A tank's role in a team fight is to soak up the initial burst, from here we have a couple types of tanks we can classify them into, let's talk about what Shen is.

1. Offtanks
You guys have probably herd this term multiple times but some probably don't know what it means. I always thought the word offtank came from, offensive tank, and that's how I remember it. Offtanks are tanky yet they also do damage, in a team fight usually their job is to dive onto their back line and either isolate, or kill the APC/ADC. They shouldn't be relied on to be a main tank though because they do have to focus on damage too! Shen is an offtank so this is what we will be focusing on. Let's look at the picture bellow and talk about this Shen's
positioning.

Note again this is not my picture I just found this on Google and thought it would be of good use

Before The Fight

There are three sections highlighted in this picture. ADC/APC zone, defensive zone, and conflict zone. As Shen ,before a team fight happens you should be on the front of the defensive zone getting ready for the fight. Shen usually can't initiate but if your sure you can taunt someone of value on their team (e.g. ADC,APC) then go for it.

The Fight
Once the fight starts you have to figure out immediately if your team needs you on the defensive, or offense. 90% of the straight up team fight like this you will be on the offense. When this happens use your Shadow Dash to get through as many people on their team as possible. This will not only give us back energy but it focuses the team on you temporarily and less on your back line. Next your job is to find and isolate the most "fed" person on their team. Most of the time this is a ADC or APC. Make sure to throw your Vorpal Blade onto them as chances are you wont be the only one attacking them. From this stage use your Feint, and if everything goes good your team will be rapping up the fight behind you after a few more combos, then you can pursue the ADC/APC assuming you didn't kill them. This gets us a nice exchange with your ult still up.

Split Pushing
This is really common with Shen and if done right can help out your team in more than one way. Before we even get into a split pushing fight you MUST have your Stand United off CD and you MUST have someone else on your team capable of taking some damage or the fight will be over before you even get there.

Most of the time a team fight will happen at mid so pick either top or bot to push. You should choose the lane that has the most enemy towers as more gold can be achieved for the team that way. Now you MUST have CONSTANT vigilance. When doing this you should be checking in on your team once every 3-5 seconds so you can catch the fight the moment it develops. If split pushing good the enemy team will be forced to send someone to your lane to stop you, this puts your team at an advantage (Be mindful of people that can cancel your ult with stuns,fears,taunts ect...).

When the actual fight happens there are two different ways your team can start the fight. The first way is by initiating. When this happens odds are you will want to use Stand United onto the person on your team that initiated. The second way a fight can start is if you get initiated onto, this is most common. In this case it would be best to use Stand United onto the person that got initiated onto. Keep these things in mind while team fighting and you should have one awesome fight.

Ranked

I play Shen jungle in ranked using my build and it works well. He has gotten me up a few divisions and there is only 1 real piece of advice I have when playing ranked. In the champ select COMMUNICATE with your top lane. Most of the time they will think you are going top so they might try and counter you with a Tryndamere (example), in knowing this you can get your top to choose a champion that counters Shen's counters confusing everyone on the enemy team and putting your team that much farther ahead.

POC (Proof of Concept)

Ganking

This deserves it's own chapter because it really is a whole different skill. Here we will go over some different ganks you can do, how to get around wards, and when to gank as Shen.

1. River Gank - This is by far the most common gank in LoL.

This picture highlights how you river gank. It's essentially running into the lane from besides or behind the enemy champions. From here you can easily land your Shadow Dash and hopefully pick up a kill or two in the process. Unfortunately this is the most commonly detected gank due to sight wards.

2. Tri Bush Ganks - This is an easy way to get around any wards that have been placed in the river. Unfortunately this can only be done for one lane depending on what side your on (Blue side ganks top. Purple side ganks bot).

This gank however does come with some risk as it involves you walking through their Jungle to avid any wards. If done while opposing team is pushing you can come into lane directly behind them for a good chance at a double/single Shadow Dash.
3. Lane Ganks - This gank is good for two things, counter-ganking, and ganking while your lane is pushed. This allows you to bypass any wards placed in tri/river but it involves your lane being pushed past half. This breaks vision on you and allows you to enter the center bushes undetected. This also good for turning a known enemy gank into a 2v2 or 3v3.

Note: Be careful not to waste too much time waiting for a good chance, if it's there go for it, if not there is probably someone else in need of help on your team.
Stand United Ganks! - This gank is really straight forward and is by far the best help Shen can give a lane. I would recommend saving this for when the opposing team's jungle ganks one of your lanes, Shen's ult can then be used to teleport in and possibly turn that fight around.

Summary

Shen is an amazing champion with many unique abilities. If put into the right hands he can completely change the outcome of a game. He can invade, has great ganks, can split push and still be with the team, lots of alternatives for building and he also has some nice skins :P. That's pretty much it guys, thanks for reading, please try this out for yourself before down voting and if you noticed anything I did wrong (no one is perfect) feel free to write in the comments or PM me. Also please note that I did spend multiple days getting this guide to what it is and put lots of effort into this, anyways good luck in your games!

P.S. this is the best music to listen to while playing LoL (my opinion) - http://grooveshark.com/#!/emmagician/broadcast (I don't control the broadcast, I just listen to it and recommend it because it has 65 hours + of music good for gaming that's constantly being added to)

P.P.S I would just like to thank everyone who is commenting on my guide and helping me shape this to what it is now, a ton of the changes that are made were done because of your wonderful feedback, so, thanks. -J M